It’s Not Too Soon to Consider 4th Quarter Ramp Up

Time to start preparing your eCommerce site for the Holidays!

As the fourth quarter is quickly approaching, it’s time to start thinking about your marketing campaigns. With a blink of the eye Halloween will have passed you by, and Black Friday will be in full swing.

Back to School and Labor Day

It’s time to start focusing your marketing efforts on the back-to-school essentials. Early August is the perfect time to start creating outfits and looks based on the latest trends and incorporate items such as backpacks and lunchboxes into your promotional material. In 2015, 70% of parents said they prefer doing their back-to-school shopping before the August rush hits.

There is no doubt that technology is a vital part of the classroom. This presents a perfect opportunity for tech companies to show why their products should be incorporated into your child’s learning experience. While many retailers are going head to head with their competitive pricing, Jay Brimberry, COO of EYStudios, suggests that merchants create a more emotional buying experience that addresses the feeling of a brand new school year.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Research shows that 40% of this year’s sales will happen between the months of September and December. That means your promotional calendar set for Black Friday and Cyber Monday should be the strongest one you put out all year.

A few more things to consider as your site is bombarded with visitors is your hosting and inventory. Are your website servers ready to handle the high traffic demand during peak Cyber Monday times? Hosting companies like, Zerolag, provide managed hosting for high traffic sites with outstanding performance and reliability.

Will your stock levels be adequate to meet the demand of your bestsellers? Red Rook provides order and inventory management solutions, to make sure you never miss a sale.

Tis the Season

For many the 4th quarter is when they receive the most visitors to their site that they have seen all year. This opens up a great opportunity to set goals and track your Google Analytics.

Learning from your site’s performance allows for more effective decision making when updating your site and running future campaigns. If a merchant relies solely on best practices, their conversion rate is bound to suffer. Also by optimizing your conversion funnel, you will be able to aggressively focus retargeting to bring back visitors.

So get ready to get to make the most of the millions of online holiday shoppers this season. Now is the perfect time to start planning your 4th quarter campaigns and drive those conversions!